Set of symbols or characters used to represent the sounds of a language. Each character in an alphabet usually represents a simple vowel, a diphthong, or a consonant, rather than a syllable or a group of consonants and vowels. The term alphabet, as used by some, however, also includes the concept of syllabaries.
An alphabet is a system of representing the sounds of a language by a set of clearly understandable and reproducible symbols. This generally involves assigning to the most common sounds their own individual graphemes, or written forms.
Further study
- Alphabet, Wikipedia
- Evolution of Alphabets, by Prof. Fradkin, Dept. of Asian and East European Languages, University of Maryland.
- The eventual evolution of the Arabic Character set from its Phonetician roots
